It was my old mate Aqualung who gave me the idea for this thread. He posted on 'The Ashes' thread ... ''Genuine question...any of you cricket buffs of a certain age ever play this? Thought it was a good game, but preferred the football version.'' please log in to view this image Anyway, as most of us on here are of a ... (a-hem)... certain age! Before Playstation and Xbox came along what were the best games to play as a kid. For me personally 'Mousetrap' and 'Flight Deck' were a nightmare to set-up and the reward was limited. Subbuteo Football and Cricket were unplayable ( Aqalung's Suggestion) So I think my ultimate question is what was the best game before the consoles landed upon us?
Subbuteo was more of a replication of a sport than a practical game. Hence why it became instinct when the consoles took over. There is one game that still holds its own though. Regardless of technology.
Operation was great fun. Especially if you could surreptitiously dislodge one of the battery connections. Times were very tough for us as a family and Christmas was cancelled for many years. This made myself and my siblings very sharp at digging out second hand games at the local jumble sales. It was a pick and mix though; often with key parts or cards missing. Worst of all was to get home clutching the star purchase, hurriedly prize open the battery case of my 25p bargain, and stumble upon the bitter alkali dandruff of battery corrosion! It couldn't happen nowadays. And I don't know how I pulled it off. But as a 13 year old I managed to convince the local auction to take a couple of old colour TVs off their hands for £1 all in. 'One of them works' was the only advice I was given, followed by 'you've got to take them now' after I'd paid up. I managed to drag them home and somehow harvest parts to contrive a single working TV out of the two to replace our cranky old black and white set. Brings back some great memories!
We used to have a Compendium of Games which had loads of board games like Ludo, Snakes and Ladders etc back in the early 60s. Scalextrix was the must have in the latter 60s and at my secondary school one of the woodwork teachers organised us building a huge track across the back of one of the workshops that we'd use at break and lunchtime. By then you could get sports cars to race on it, mine was a Lola...
Agree Nines, anything withmoving parts or requiring a physical skill which you would never use in normal life (who flicks a kick away from Subuteo?) was doomed to fail for me. Even the primitive Scalectrix my Dad got us was extremely unpredictable, spent 80% of your time realigning the wire brushes on the front of the cars to maintain contact with the track. I have no idea where we got this from but it was good fun. There was another board game involving cards and I think dice which simulated the FA Cup. It must have been old because QPR were definitely a Division 2 (old money) team in it, but even with the odds against us you could sometimes manipulate it to let us win. Can't remember what it was called though. Might have been this one but looks way too complicated.
When I was 15 or 16 I won a painting competition in the Kilburn Times and was presented with my prize by Rodney Marsh. The prize was a world cup edition of Subbuteo
Subbuteo Cricket! Never knew there was such a thing Nines! Subbuteo football was the one for me. But my older brother and his mates wouldn't let me play so when he was gone out I'd sneak it down and play it. I did away with the footballers though and used toy soldiers and a marble instead. When the good guys won, the bad guys would open fire and shoot them all dead (Hoops, is that you in that picture?)
I liked this one Stroller & from Waddington's, Formula One. Stan, I also had Wembley & i think it dated back to when the third division was divided between north & south! How many on here can remember that?
I remember a football game we had as kids in which you used magnets on a long plastic rod to move your players around from underneath the table. Heaven knows what it was called, but I remember that the rods used to break quite easily when belting your siblings over the nut with what was effectively a hammer!!
Picture in post #11 Yorkie. I'm now sure that Wembley was the game I had, remember the different colours for different divisions.
I was a little later than you guys and had a 70's childhood. This was my favourite toy of the time. They had a big wheel in the centre which you activated by using a plastic pull strip and the door, bonnets, bootlid and wheels all came off on impact! We were only talking about childhood toys in the pub last night! Happy, happy days! please log in to view this image
